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    36 THE LEADER. [Batpbpay, _. -¦ ' - — ¦ ...

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    HOW TO KEEP ENGLISH WORKING MEN AT HOME....

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    What Ministers Might Do Abroad. On Enter...

    long as he obeys the laws , he must be protected against injury by the full power of his own State , ¦ which shall , through its ambassador , watch over the due observance of the laws in his behalf , and rescue him if the laws be infringed against him . There has been no recent instance of such protection . English subj ects have been wronged , and the utmost exactedhasbeen something in the form of a vain apology . An instance is nowbefore the public , that of Mr . Henry E ,. Newton . It is evident here that the authorities have stated a falsehood to excuse themselves , and that the representatives of England have accepted that falsehood as truth .

    In other words , Mr . Newton is injured , and he is refused redress , under cover of a transparent falsehood ; to which the English Government submits ! This is not protecting English citizens , nor is it vindicating the honour of this country , violated in the person of its subject . If , indeed , breaking away from that pusillanimous policy , our Government were to insist upon full justice to every English subject , and were to enforce that with all its power , the name of England would again become a shield to justice , and every Englishman would be in his own person before the nations an example of freedom supported by

    strength . The principle of non-intervention , even according to the newest interpretation , appears to us to violate a principle of humanity . If one individual see a weaker person injured by a stronger , his instincts prompt him to defend that weaker person , and to abide the consequences to himself , whatever they may be . If he should be injured or even destroyed , a great principle has been vindicated , and his life is well

    expended . It may cost a man or two occasionally to maintain that principle , but in the mean time the nations that possess such men are stronger and happier . The man that calculates the consequences to himself , and avoids an encounter for the defence of weakness' against unjust strength , is a man of lower qualities than the other , and if he avoids material injury , he submits to a lower state of existence for himself . The same principle applies to nations . The nation which , is generous , which is conscious of its strength , confident in its own principles , is prepared to sympathize with other States that reciprocate its sentiments , to share fortune with them side by side , as allies to maintain common

    battle against aggression , and to uphold the right- Such a determination may at times lead to conflict where unsettled questions meet ; but conflict is not the worst fate for a nation—degeneracy is far worse , and a nation which is growing indifferent to the success of its own principles , to freedom , to honour , and to friendship , is gradually sinking to a lower state morally , and must , therefore , through failing powers , seek for itself a lower state materially . Nations cannot avoid the responsibilities of greatness , without avoiding greatness itself ; and if England can see Protestant and Constitutional countries like Jl ungary , Uelgiuni , and Sardinia fall a prey to absolutism , spiritual and temporal , she is herself losing her own instincts of freedom

    sp iritual and temporal . iiutifthc princip le of non-intervention is to be ours , it slrould be adopted thoroughly and explicitly , and even so ; it may become negatively the instrument for restoring England to a more upright posit ion , and lor doing justice to those ; Slates which have too faithfully relied upon our failing alliance . Itmi ^ ht he done without , any too active or cumbersome operations on our part .

    Let us declare that we take no part in the internal concerns of a , ny nation whatsoever , and lei us erase all reference to the internal affairs of any foreign state from our statute-book . IjcI , uh ¦ wholl y ignore their internal affairs , leaving them to enforce their own laws in their own way , upon British Hiibjeets as well as upon any others ; only Heeurintf iov British subjects 1 , 1 ml . they shall be coerced by none but the known lawn of a , country . But if ho , " wo ought to declare this new resolve . Wo ought to proclaim that we no longer hu . sLm . im iui interest in keeping the Pope upon bin throne ; that , wo no longer wish the maintenance ol a Bavarian throne in Greece , or a Bourbon throne

    in Naples , or a llapsburg throne in Vienna , or a Uoheuy . ollern throne in Berlin . We ought to proclaim that , we shall no longer enforce a , law to prohibit , enlistment , in foreign Hervice , which we ought to know nothing about . And to on force the principle fully , we should prepare * to form ulliancob on that battitw-to etitablmh au ulliuuco

    with states pledged to prevent the intervention of state with state . Such an avowed abstraction of England from the effective resources of those great Powers which are constantly interfering with the internal concerns of foreign states , would in itself be a heavy blow and great discouragement to the power of Absolutism in Europe . But , consistently carried out , the principle of non-intervention calls upon us for another great public act of duty . Acoording to that principle , we should neither make nor meddle with the

    frontiers of any foreign state , but should cultivate relations of amity for ourselves , to each government de facto ; arrogating to ourselves , within our own boundaries , the correlative right of doing as we please . According to this interpretation , the English flag should once more protect all under its shadow , so long as they observed the internal laws of our own country . In short , the principle of national independence and non-intervention should make us ignore all distinction between pursuers and refugees , and should make us restore to the fugitive the generous right of

    liberty under the British flag ; once more extending to the political slave the hospitality which we now reserve exclusively for the Black . One more duty remains . There is one great series of acts which wholly violate the principle of non-intervention , and belie Lord Aberdeen ' s historical account of English policy abroad . The treaties of 1815 were and are a universal violation of the principle that we are not to meddle with the internal concerns of any foreign state .

    England should cancel her signature to those treaties . Such a course as we have indicated would be strictly accordant with the declarations of our new Ministers ; it would be consistent in itself : it would not be an aggressive course , though it would restore to Eng land a position of strength and dignity ; andit ' wouldplace her in a situation modestly but firmly to uphold within the limits of her own jurisdiction , the great principles of peace and liberty for the whole world .

    36 The Leader. [Batpbpay, _. -¦ ' - — ¦ ...

    36 THE LEADER . [ Batpbpay , _ . - ¦ ' - — ¦ ¦¦¦— . ¦ - . IZZ ———^—Mi ^^**^—W * W ^^^ " ^

    How To Keep English Working Men At Home....

    HOW TO KEEP ENGLISH WORKING MEN AT HOME . Since the summer , the English employer has found golden Australia introducing a new competition in that labour market where America had already appeared ; and while the official emigration during the last seven years has increased from 93 , 500 to 366 , 000 , there is every reason to believe that the attraction of labour for the most valuable of our colonies will continue throughout the coming year . The official emigration during the last eight years has carried

    2 , 000 , 000 persons ; by far the larger part , however , from Ireland . " But that considerable abstraction from the labour of the country has now placed our industry in such condition , that their future draft will tell with a hundred-fold effect . That Ireland cannot readily spare much more of her labour , is shown by the increasing comfort of the people , which proves that production is now gaining in the ratio upon population . Ireland , therefore , is not likely to supply that constant surplus of labour which has operated so

    greatly in keeping down the value of English labour in the English market . On the other hand , the excessive increase of activity in every branch of industrial enterprise!—cotton , cloth , and iron , coal , < V . c . — lias already brought the demand of labour to that , point at which any increase of orders on the side of th e ; employer , or any further abstraction on ( he side of labour , must begin to exhibit an immediate result in an enhancement of price , or wages . A lrca . dy concessions have been made to the colliers , and

    although we do not hearol considerable advances in any other trades , it is unquestionable that there is an upward tendency m manufactures , and that even in the agricultural districts , the first process lowards an enhancement of wages has been seen in the absorption of able-bodied pauperism . There , aj # iiia . nife . stl y two motives to em ignition , ' wh ' wJi operate upon , the large numbers hithert (> ¦ transported from our shores- -.-the desire to rise in the social scale , and the

    desire ( or the enjoyment ol greater political rights ; and both these motives operate most forcibly upon the very pick and flower of ' oiu * working classes . Many a skilled artisan , well informed , prudent and conscientious in his work , feels that , in Ibis country the prospect of rising to si . condition of independence ) is almost closed against him ; noon he h ' nd . s numbers who have already occupied a , position in the scale of employers , descend in tho scale of competition to

    his own level . At tho same time he sees that , amidst the many reforms which cabinets offer from time to time , and of which instalments are promised every ten or twenty y ^ ars , it will be long before his class in general ? an attain the possession of Parliamentary right * , and looking at his children , he foresees that the * most likely chance- is to remain among the unenfranchised , and he knows it is not so m Amen ™ . There , strong-armed industry can soon secure a man at and foe bound

    least an independent livelihood ; - less lands are open to his children . There , residence and the performance of the simpleit duties obtain for him the full enjoyment of political rights , guaranteed by the old traditional English right of possessing arms . A very few pounds will carry him across the Atlantic . A comparatively easy effort will transfer him from a state of hopeless poverty and political disfranchlsement , to one of hopeful activity and political manhood . While sheer distress has driven forth numbers of our best Englishmen , there isro

    official emigration to the United btates . lhe very poorest cannot go , the least intelligent do not know how to find . the way , and the consequence has been , that we have literally transferred the very best of our working classes to the United States . The full attraction of Australia has but recently existed . Until within a few months , the demand for labour by the colony has exceeded tie demand for labourers in this country . Some time ago the length of the voyage was one deterrent , and the chief attraction offered consisted in the generally comfortable and peaceful condition of the colonies , with the offer of a rmssaere partly , if not entirely

    gratuitous , conducted through a machinery specially adapted to select emigrants . Thus colonization also has drawn forth the pick of our people , though it has not , like America , appealed so decidedly to political motives . Within the last half year , however , the attraction of the gold has been added . Here was a guarantee for much more than the expenses of the voyage , and the official emigrant has now been accompanied by a great emigration of volunteers , at their own expense . These are drawn principally from the

    humbler ranks of the middle class , or the very best of tho working classes . Those who emigrate are filled with the anticipation of realizing comparative wealth by exertion ; and if they think of politics at all , it is with a conviction much justified , that the land to which they are going is in process of being iilled by men who will have tho means in their own hands of taking their own political privileges . For Australia , therefore , the attractions arc , access to wealth through exertion , and political enfranchisement .

    If English capital desires to keep a sufficiency of labour , Jind especially of intelligence , in its own service , it has now come to a point at which it must compote with America and Australia in . both these attractions . It must offer social comfort to the Avorlcing man , and political freedom . The subject is well Avorth the consideration of the employing class generally . Jt is assuming a real practical shape , ( jientlemen of manufacturing dignity may think it undesirable to extend the franchise too far—to give men who are

    uneducated the trust of choosing a legislator—to grant Jiny power whatever to those Avho have no stake in the country . . Hut these nice refinements will soon cease to be juailablo if the present transition of labour ^ oes on , as the best authorities think it will . The gold attraction has but recently told , but it is increasing with the arriving accounts of every mail from Australia ,, and iiuismuch as in its very nature it furnishes the giuirjintce for the expense of the outward voyage , the difficulty of finding the means avails but little to

    hinder the labour . I f , therefore , the prosperity should put some check , upon the emigration to America , it i . s not likely at present very materially to check the outlet to Australia ,, and that , outlet ,, as wo lia . ve seen , operates most powerfully upon-the most valuable chases . Political incentives are thus become economical injuries . Nice theorists of a , conservative-utilitarian school may think it

    prudent to postpone franchise extension until avc have had education ; or to make it gradual , with Home propert y tax . Uut if they do , all we can say is , that they are likely enough , to liml tho population going , and the capitalist elans would find i | , a very hard business for them if they had nothing left in the labour market but the enlraiichiHcd constituency . If they want to keep tho labourer at homo , therefore , they had

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Jan. 8, 1853, page 36, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_08011853/page/12/